Harry's Story
by Jayne Foyer
Summary: We all know the story - Harry Potter's glorious defeat of You-Know-Who is taught to every magical child. But what about him, now? Telling the story to his children, Harry admits to what he thought in the final moments of the battle...


"So I knew the truth – I knew what I must do. It was a terrible thing to know, but eventually I got up and walked out of the Head's office. I didn't think I could stand seeing any of my friends again. I ran into Neville, then left the school. I was wearing the Cloak, and the time was almost up…" He paused for a moment, then decided not to tell them about the Stone. "I finally faced him."

"But he didn't get you," said Rose in a hushed voice, her mouth hanging open. "You're alive, you're right here!"

Harry smiled. "That's true… but he _did _get me. Turns out, he only killed the part of him that was in me."

"There was a part of him in you?" Albus asked, in awe.

"Yes," continued Harry, smiling. "When he tried to kill me when I was younger than all of you, a part of him was blown into me."

"So," said Teddy, frowning slightly. "_Neither can live while the other survives. _That was it, wasn't it? You both had a part of the other in you."

Harry nodded. "That's right. He killed me, and for a moment I was in between life and death."

"And he thought you were dead?" asked Lily.

A smile spread across Harry's face. "With a little help, yes. He thought I was dead. And so-"

"Sorry to interrupt," said Hermione. "But your dinner will get cold if you don't eat it now."

"Hermione," said Ron, glancing at her. "We'll heat it up. I want to hear the end of this."

She rolled her eyes.

"Like you haven't heard it a million times already…"

Ginny slid into the room. Harry locked eyes with her for a moment, then said, "Alright, I'll finish."

There was silence again.

"Well. Don't you all know the rest? It's in all the history textbooks, isn't it?"

"Let's hear it from you," said James, shifting in his seat.

Harry smiled at his son. "Okay… after that, when he tried to curse anyone, it wouldn't work. None of his spells would work against them – do you know why?"

"For the same reason the curse wouldn't work on you when you were a baby," said Teddy. "Your mother gave up her life for you, you, well, almost gave up your life for them."

Harry laughed and nodded. "Yes, exactly. It was really remarkable, don't you think, Ron? Hermione? Ginny?"

They nodded, a faraway look in their eyes.

"It was a huge battle. Grandma Weasley dueled very well, you should have seen her. And then… and then, it was just me and him."

He paused, letting the suspension build up. Everyone in the room was staring at him intently, ready to soak up his next words.

"Before that moment," he continued softly. "I was terrified, infuriated, and grieving. But when it came down to it…everything went silent. I couldn't even think, I just said what seemed right."

"What did you say?"

"Well…" Harry looked at something in the distance, returning to that moment. "He told me I had survived by accidents alone. I set him right. I told him Severus Snape had never been his. I told him the Elder Wand was not rightfully his. And I asked him… I asked him to try for some remorse."

"Remorse?" asked Teddy.

"What's remorse?" asked Hugo.

Hermione stroked her son's head. "Guilt. Shame. Regret. Sorrow."

Ron shot an amused glanced at her.

"And then?" asked James.

"And then, it happened. He used the Killing Curse, I tried to disarm him. The Elder Wand wouldn't work against its master… His own curse rebounded on him. He killed himself."

The children all stared up at Harry, barely believing their ears.

"What happened next?" asked Teddy.

"What?"

"What happened after the battle? When it was all over? I mean, I know _what _happened, but… I want to know what's _not _in the history books. How did it feel?" he asked. Harry looked at him for a moment, smiling faintly.

"After the battle, the whole country was in constant celebration for months. It took a long time to get over all our losses, but, personally, I was just tired. Everyone wanted to say something to me, to hold my hand, to thank me for what I had done. Frankly, I was quite sick of it."

They all nodded.

"And then we ended up here! Now come on, let's go to dinner."

James raced Albus to the dining room table, talking about the story they had just heard. Rose, Lily and Hugo went more slowly, still fascinated by what Harry had told them.

Teddy, Hermione, Ron and Ginny remained. Teddy approached Harry first.

"Wow," he began. "I've never heard it like that before."

"You've heard it before?"

He smiled.

"The only lesson in History anyone ever even tried to listen to is the story of Harry Potter and the Dark Lord."

"Ah. Professor Binns still teaching, then?"

Teddy laughed. "Yeah, still teaching. One of my friends tried to scare him off, but it didn't work very well, seeing as he's a ghost."

Harry laughed. "Of course."

Teddy opened his mouth to say something, and then closed it again. He bit his lip and, his hair turned brown. Teddy didn't even notice.

"What is it?" asked Harry. It was uncanny how much he looked like his father when his hair wasn't turquoise.

"Oh, nothing…" Harry raised an eyebrow. "It's just that my gran told me that – that my father talked to you once, and it – well, as she puts it 'it turned him around'."

Harry stared at him for a moment, then nodded.

"Oh yes. I remember that."

Teddy avoided Harry's eyes.

"It was Ron, Hermione and I," he began softly. "We were stay at Grimmauld Place – you know, _my _godfather's old house."

Harry wondered how to phrase it.

"Your mother was pregnant with you. Your father wasn't very happy with the possibility that he could have passed on his – problem – to an innocent child."

Teddy nodded. "But I'm not like him, am I?"

Harry looked at him.

"Oh, you know what I mean."

"Yes, I do. And no, you're not even part werewolf."

There was a pause.

"You should have seen him," said Harry gently. "You should have seen him when he gave the news that you had been born. He was so proud, Ted. He was a great man. I know he misses you."

"But he's with his friends again," said Teddy quietly. "With the Marauders."

Harry smiled.

"Yes. He's off pranking with the Marauders again, I bet."

Teddy shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Thanks Harry."

He hesitated for just a moment, and Harry put his arms around him. Teddy paused for just a moment, then returned the hug.

"You're a good boy, Teddy," he whispered.

They broke apart. Teddy mumbled something and hurried into the dining room. Ginny came up beside Harry and put her hand on his arm.

"Are you alright?"

Harry glanced at her. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine."

She smiled once at him, kissed him quickly, and strode to the table to help with the kids.

Ron and Hermione appeared on either side of him.

"I suppose that was the abridged version, wasn't it? You left out loads."

"Ah, the kids don't need to hear that stuff."

Hermione shrugged. "They know more than they let on. Just the other day, Rose asked me what a Horcrux was. We never told them about Horcruxes, did we?"

Harry shook his head. Ron, on the other hand, coughed guiltily into his hand.

"_Ronald!_" said Hermione, shooting a look at him. He laughed and shrugged.

"They asked, and I quote, 'what is something you haven't told us yet?'. What was I supposed to say? 'Oh, your mother almost adopted a pet dragon?'"

Harry chuckled.

"Come on," he said. "Dinner's getting cold."

Together, the three of them walked into the dining room, and for one single, shining moment, they were walking into the Great Hall, to hear Professor Dumbledore as they started a new day.

The moment passed. Hermione and Ron sat in between their son and daughter. Harry sat next to his son James, and Remus Lupin's son, Teddy.

Because, as much pain and suffering the Dark Lord caused… he wasn't able to stop time.

Harry glanced once around the table, and smiled.


End file.
